Putin Agrees to Further Develop All Aspects of Russia-North Korea Relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula with North Korean Foreign Minister Choi Son-hui. The Kremlin announced on the 17th (local time) that it “wants to develop relations with North Korea in all areas, including sensitive ones.”

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, introduced some of the content of the meeting between President Putin and Minister Choi during a briefing, saying, “We generally discussed bilateral relations, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and exchanged opinions on the most urgent international issues,” and “However, we mainly focused on developing bilateral relations.”

He emphasized, “We have repeatedly said that North Korea is a very important partner for us and we will gladly repeat it,” and “We want to further develop relations in all areas, including sensitive ones.”

However, the spokesperson did not specifically explain what the ‘sensitive areas’ are. But there is speculation that the ‘sensitive area’ refers to the ‘military area,’ given that Russia recently faced allegations of receiving weapons, including missiles, from North Korea during its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In return, there are suspicions that North Korea is also receiving support in the field of space aviation technology and advanced technology from Russia.

Minister Choi, who visited Russia the day before, met with Foreign Minister Lavrov and visited the Kremlin in the evening to meet with President Putin. Foreign media speculated that President Putin’s visit to North Korea was discussed at this meeting, but the Kremlin did not mention it.

However, regarding the meeting between the foreign ministers of North Korea and Russia, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, briefly stated that “both countries confirmed their mutual will to resolve the regional tensions triggered by the irresponsible provocative actions of the United States and its allies politically and diplomatically.”

Russia plans to summarize and announce the final results of this meeting after the end of Minister Choi’s visit to Russia on the 17th.

By. Gyu Hong Kwon